Artist Blog of Fox Anthony Spears (Karuk)

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Dining Observations

I was trying to take the day off from homework, but when we were at breakfast at a place called "Huckleberry Square," I saw the following quote on the menu: "God’s gift to the Native Americans and now shared with you. High mountain hand-picked wild Huckleberries embody the spirit of the Northwest."

We go there for breakfast fairly regularly and I’d never noticed that before. I also had never tried the huckleberries, so I figured I ought to check out "God’s gift to the Native Americans…" I ordered a stack of four medium pancakes with huckleberries and they were HUGE! (See below.) Tasted great though, not that I could finish them.

And then at dinner we were at Taco Time and I saw the following quote on the tray mat: "Puget Sound’s indigenous taco since 1962." Cute advertisement, but I found the use of the word "indigenous" a little surprising. It made me remember how Aveda ended up dropping a line of body wash and oil they called "indigenous" after there was some uproar about the trademark of the word. Not that I’m going to organize a protest against the menu this morning or the tray mat at Taco Time! It is just interesting to be a little more tuned in to noticing things like this. They might seem really small, but they still do send a certain message that it is okay to capitalize on such things. The question is, is it really okay?

About the Author

Fox was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and earned a B.F.A. from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. An enrolled member of the Karuk Tribe (of Northern California), he has received grants and awards from a variety of organizations. His work has been exhibited locally and nationally, and is held in a variety of private collections along with that of the University of Washington's Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.